


Mama's Boys

by Amethyst_Molly



Series: Story Pieces [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Football, High School, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:48:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24156133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amethyst_Molly/pseuds/Amethyst_Molly
Series: Story Pieces [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1743217





	Mama's Boys

Mama’s Boys

James Isaac played running back for the Dillon Wildcats. His older brother, Clarence played the same position for the USC Gamecocks. James had always looked up to his older brother. That’s why he was a running back. That was the reason that he even played at all. He was the state’s fastest running back, and that was why Mama G was out to Dillon High School watching football practice on a Tuesday night. She was watching some of the other kids, just in case someone caught her interest, but she was there to see him, he was sure of it. His biggest competition was Derek Freeman. Derek could break a tackle like nobody’s business. But James was faster than Derek. She sat in the stands for two hours, watching catch drills, and run drills and sprints. They did a little bit of everything that day, probably because she had asked Coach to do everything today so that she could see them. Coach called them off the fields, told them to hit the showers, and headed up the stands to talk to her. James hit the showers with confidence, knowing that he had shined that day.

The coach came into the locker room, and everybody grew quiet. “Everybody knows that the recruiter came down from USC today, and I know most of you would like to go play for a college team after you get out of high school, but she only wants one of you, and that’s Derek Freeman. I’m sorry if that disappoints any of you, but that’s what she has decided.” He walked over to Derek. “Son, get yourself ready, she wants to talk to you.”

* * *

Derek was nervous. He’d never talked to any of the recruiters before, even casually. He walked up the stands to where she was sitting, absorbed in whatever she was writing. “Ma’am?” he asked.

She looked up at him, her brown eyes mostly hidden by sunglasses. “Ah, Derek, just the man I wanted to see,” she said to him, hoping to put him at ease. “Tell me, would you like to play running back for USC?”

“I surely would,” he said.

“Now comes the hard part. I need your ACT or your SAT scores by the end of December, and I can get you provisionally qualified. You will be accepted, provided that you can maintain the 3.0 that you have right now. So no senior slackers, you hear?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

She got up, putting all of her papers in her bag. “One last thing.”   
“Yes, Ma’am?”

“Call me Mama G.”

* * *

Mama G hoped that James wasn’t too disappointed. Clarence had been straight with her that the reason James had wanted to go was for him. Everything that James did was to emulate his brother. That was a lot of pressure to put on a kid that young. Unless that little speedster she’d watched in Chattanooga two weeks ago panned out, of which she was doubtful, she had ideas on what to do with James. Clarence had come with her so that he could visit his folks, and she needed to go get him, so she waited for James.

“James,” she said to the boy as he exited the locker room. He lifted his head and trudged over in her direction.

“Why did you pick Derek, I’m faster than he is,” he started heatedly.

“I chose Derek because he is better at breaking tackles, which is somewhat more important than speed for a running back,” she said, putting her arms around his shoulders, guiding him toward her car.

“But I’m fast, fast enough to avoid the tackles,” James said, getting into her car after putting his equipment in the back.

“You are right now, but at the college level, you won’t be. I don’t want you to give up though. I’ve talked to your coach, and if you’d like, I’d like to see how you do as a wide receiver, where your speed is more important than your ability to break the tackles. The coach has agreed to switch you out so that you can practice, and I’ll be back in a few weeks to see if you are adapting to your new position. I only have one candidate for that position other than you, but the only reason I’m even looking at a kid from Tennessee is that his dad is an Alumni. I know you want to be just like your brother, but you aren’t built like he is. You’re built like a wide receiver.”

“I don’t know what to say Mama G.”

“Well, that’s ok, honey, I know that you’ll have a lot to think about before you decide this. Just don’t let football interfere with your schoolwork,” she looked at him briefly, then back to the road. “If you take up the wide receiver position, it’ll be a lot of work, memorizing patterns, names, codes, and it’ll be hard to get it done in the next month.”

“I can do it Mama G. Do you think I’ll be a better wide receiver? Coach always says that, too.”

“I do. I think you’ve got good enough field sense to make it. Now if your coach is saying that you need to be a wide receiver, why in the world haven’t you done it?”

“I want to be like Clarence. He’s so strong and fast, and I love my brother, that’s why I’m a running back.”

“I don’t want to discourage your dream, but it’s time that you tried something else.”

“Why can’t I just be a running back like Clarence?”

“Because, if I let you do that, I’m letting down the team by not having the best running back that I can find out there on the field, and something else, son, I would be letting you down; because I would be letting you slide when I know that you are better than being a second-rate running back.” James didn’t say anything. She felt sure that he was sulking, and the sullen look on his face proved it. “I wasn’t saying that you are a second-rate anything, but you know that you’d be playing back up for your brother on the team. The best you would ever be is second string, at least for the first two years of college, unless somehow Clarence got hurt, and I know you don’t want to see that happening. You’ll make a great wide receiver, better than Clarence ever would. He’s got horrible field sense.”

“Mama G, what’s field sense?”

“That’s when you know that someone just drilled your numbers, and you turn just in time for the ball to land in the cradle of your arms so you can run it home. I saw you do it twice out there today, catching for that boor that they have throwing quarterback.”

“He’s got the best arm on the team, Mama G.”

“Be that as it may, there is a reason that I am talking to you and not to him,” she said as they pulled into the driveway.

Clarence was there, waiting on them to get back. “So, Mama G, are you gonna put him on the team?”

“I found a better running back,” she told him, and watched his expression drop, “but, I’ve seen many boys try to play the wrong position, and I think that’s what your brother’s problem is.”

She came around to the other side of the car, and clapped both boys on the back, “He’s going to work on this new position, and we’ll see if we can’t get him settled in and flying straight. Let’s go talk to your Momma, boys.”

* * *

“I told you that I don’t think that boy will work well in a team environment. I don’t want him here at USC. Let him go somewhere that he can be a star like he is at his high school.”

“His dad’s promised to donate a substantial sum to the college because he went to school here, and he wants his kid to have this same experience.”

“I’ve got someone else to fill that position already.”

“Really? Is he any good?”

“Very good. I saw him on my last go around.”

“Dillon High? I thought their big bad wide was a sophomore.”

“Oh, he is. They’ve got deeper talent there though, a senior.”

“Hmm. I want to see this if he’s as good as you think he is,” Coach paused, looking at his calendar. “When?”

“They have the big game of the season in 4 weeks. It’s against South Florence, so you can see the quarterback that I was telling you about, Samuel Combs.”

“Make it happen. I can stave off the parents at least that long,” he said, then they headed out to see how practice was going.

“How’s my team, Coach?”

“I have to say, Mama G, you are the best recruiter we’ve ever had at this school. You are a bulldog, and I mean that in the nicest way possible.”

“You give me butterflies,” came the sarcastic reply, “Are they keeping up with their school work, or do I need to give them the talk?”

“There’s a couple of them slacking. You might want to do it as preventative maintenance.”

* * *

“I’ve called you boys here today because I’ve been out of town, and you’ve only had Coach here to guide you. I know that you boys haven’t had that much experience out in the wide world, and you want to explore, and I understand that. But I want you to know that this team is about more than anyone of you. It is dedication, drive, and determination that got you here. All of you are good students, and when you signed a contract with me, it said that I own you, mind and body, six-and-a-half days a week, and Jesus owns your soul on Sunday morning. I have to go out again this week, but I’ll be back on Friday and Coach will tell me how you boys have been doing. I will kick your tails if it needs doing. You are here to learn, and to grow. Playing football is secondary to all of that. If you need help, ask your teammates. That’s why you are all in the same classes. Do I need to have you down in the team room for group study every night?”

A resounding, “No, Mama G!” came from all sides.

“Then I don’t want to hear about any of my boys slacking on their schoolwork again,” she paused, letting the notion sink into them, “and I don’t want to ever hear about one of you skipping class. I will personally come down from wherever I am and stomp your collective asses into the ground. Have I made myself clear?”

“Yes, Mama G!” her freshmen said.

“Alright, get back to studying. Coach and I have greenies to talk over.” The team got up as a group and filed out, headed for the building next to the stadium, the football player’s dorms.

* * *

“Isaac!” called a voice, and Clarence turned to see Eddie waiving him down.

“My man Eddie,” he said taking the other player’s hand. “What can I do for you?”

“I heard Mama G turned your brother down, that’s harsh man.”

“Eh, she’s got that kid Derek to play R-B but she’s trying to get James here still. He’s gonna be a wide if he can make it. It’s a tough competition to get a football scholarship.”

“Wow, he’s that fast? I know you said he was fast, but I didn’t know you meant like, fast. That’s cool. Hope he makes it, we’ve needed a good wide receiver for years,” Eddie said, then he headed off in the direction of his room and Clarence continued in the direction of his.  
Eddie’s right, we have needed one for years, our passing game has stunk because of it and if we could get a decent passing game going we could be Bowl-bound, Clarence thought.

* * *

The whole team was abuzz with the excitement of the game that day. Homecoming is always exciting and this was no exception. In the locker room coach left the team alone and the team captain gathered everyone together. 

“Ok guys, we’ve got a good season going, we all know what Coach expects of us. You are the best group of guys I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing with, and we’ll be brothers long after this night,” then he bowed his head, “Lord, give us the strength and desire to play our best tonight, and Lord watch over us and our opponents so that no one gets hurt in this game, and Lord give us each the strength to follow in the path of your son, Jesus Christ both in football and in life. In your Son’s name, we pray, amen. NOW LET’S PLAY USC FOOTBALL! TEAMWORK ON THREE! ONE…TWO…THREE! TEAMWORK!” with the whole team joining in the last word.

Clarence followed the team out onto the field and waited as the starters were introduced and ran through the ring, building up to join the rest of the team’s rush onto the field. Then in a mass movement, the whole team ran through the ring held by a couple of cheerleaders. He could have sworn the one on the right winked at him. He’d have to find her at the dance this evening if she didn’t have a date. 

Clarence took his place on a forty-five-degree line leading to the fifty-yard line. When the band started the Star-Spangled Banner he put his right hand over his heart. Once the ceremony was done, he went over to the sidelines where Coach talked to them.

“They’ve come into our house boys, they want to beat us in our house. We won’t let them beat us in our house will we?” Coach asked at the top of his lungs.

“NO! COACH!” the team yelled back.

“I didn’t catch that, are we going to let them beat us IN OUR HOUSE!” the coach yelled again.

“NO! COACH!” the team yelled back, louder.

“I thought I heard something that time, couldn’t make it out, ARE THEY GONNA BEAT US IN OUR HOUSE!” the coach yelled.

“NO! COACH!!” the team yelled back as loud as they could.

“That’s what I thought. Now Determination, on three. ONE…TWO…THREE…DETERMINATION!”

Clarence was pumped, he loved the pre-game rousing. He took his spot on the bench and watched as the first string running back, a senior named Blake Williams, stretched out during the coin toss. The opposition won and elected to receive the ball for the opening kick-off. The kick sailed through the air, and went too far and resulted in a touchback, which started the games first series on the twenty-yard line.

On the first play, the other team attempted a pass, but it was tipped and resulted in an incomplete pass. Three third plays later of the series ended up being a punt, the other side not being able to get anything going on offence. On the punt USC’s punt returner managed to return the kick for thirty yards, giving USC excellent field position, which was capitalized on two plays later, using the running game.


End file.
